Sariyer Development Action Plan

SARIYER DEVELOPMENT ACTION PLAN

A Brief Note

In January 2010, Sarıyer Municipality has started a comprehensive and result-oriented development initiative in order to meet the common needs and issues in the district. The initiative is called Sarıyer Development Action Plan (SDAP) which will be completed in June 2010.

The aim of the action plan is aims developing the Sarıyer’s economy, environment and community through the participation and support of all local stakeholders especially residents. For achieving this end, the plan will set out a road map with feasible and sustainable objectives. The objectives and the means of achieving them will be result-oriented, coherent and clearly-defined in the plan.

SDAP is a divided into three main areas within a holistic development framework;

2.Social Policy, Education and Culture: public health, education, employment, protection of disadvantageous social groups and animals.

3.Services Sector and Tourism: marketing of the district, Small and Medium Enterprise policy, boosting tourism and attracting investment.

The Action Plan and all its activities will be executed according to these interacting areas.

As local development concerns all of the local residents, we have adopted a participatory approach in its formation. The first phase took place at the Conference Centre of Istanbul Technical University between the days of 11-13 January 2010. The Preparatory Meeting started by the opening speech of Sarıyer Municipilatiy’s Mayor Şükrü Genç on January 11, 2010. Mayor Genç underlined that the plan will not be a document on the shelf but a guideline for the activities of the Municipality.

The participants of meetings included leading officials, municipal personnel, academicians, non-governmental organizations and the media representatives. Also, to share their experiences, the Mayor of Weilburg Municipality and three municipal representatives from Germany took part in the meetings. After the opening ceremony, the working groups, that are set up for the three main development areas, held numerous sessions where they laid the foundations of the Plan. In these sessions the participants discussed the importance of the plan, its content and expected impact. In addition to these, they discussed the weakness and strengths of the district as well as the opportunities and constraints before the district. At the end preparatory meeting, the preliminary short, medium and long term objectives were determined by the participants.

The plan will be prepared and finalised by the meetings of the three main and numerous sub working groups until June 2010. At these meeting the objectives and their road map will be delineated by the participants. Also, participation to groups and meetings will remain open until May 2010.